STATE COLLEGE — Bill O’Brien wanted everyone to wait until the first play of the Nittany Lions’ season opener to see which quarterback would take the field first. According to ESPN’s Nittany Nation the winner of the Lions’ quarterback competition for the time being anyway is former five-star recruit Christian Hackenberg.

Hackenberg joined the Lions over the summer and was in competition with former JUCO transfer Tyler Ferguson. Ferguson arrived in January and worked with the team throughout the summer. Both quarterbacks split reps through training camp.

O’Brien said several times in the past few weeks that both quarterbacks need to be ready and will play this season.

During his weekly radio show Thursday night, O’Brien said the quarterbacks will not rotate by series against Syracuse but that it’s important during this point in the season that they both get their feet wet. He also said Thursday evening that the team was made aware who Saturday’s starter would be.

“We'll start a guy and he'll play the majority of the game but the other guy will play," O’Brien said Thursday.

Hackenberg’s father, Erick, will be in attendance at Saturday’s game. Erick said regardless of the outcome of the quarterback competition, a situation he would not comment on, at this point he’s just pleased to see his son wearing the blue and white.

“I’m just excited to see Christian live out his dream of playing Division I football,” Erick told PennLive. “I won’t confirm or deny if he’s starting or not, but as soon as he even takes warmups on the field I’ll probably be more nervous than he is.

“Christian has this really neat calming demeanor about him and I’m excited for him. Both guys have worked very hard and one way or another, having both guys get experience early on in the season is not a bad thing for the team.”

Hackenberg’s coach at Fork Union Military academy, Micky Sullivan, told PennLive he spoke with the quarterback Thursday night and purposely didn’t ask him if he’s starting or not in hopes of not putting any additional pressure on him.

O’Brien also said Thursday night that he wanted to wait to until the first snap of the game to name the starter to make sure either 18-year-old Hackenberg, or 19-year-old Ferguson, didn’t have to deal with any additional stress.

“I always tell him to go have fun,” Sullivan said. “He’s young and he’s going to make mistakes but I told him you’ll be viewed as how you handle your mistakes. Regardless of if he starts or not, I told him make sure you stop, look around the stadium and enjoy the view because you can never do the first one again.”

Ferguson’s mother and stepfather do not plan on making the trip from Bakersfield, Calif., to MetLife Stadium but Tyler’s father will be in attendance. The family will travel to State College for the team’s Sept. 14 game against Central Florida.

Ferguson’s stepfather said via text message to PennLive that regardless of whether or not Tyler starts or comes off the bench on Saturday it won’t matter to the family. Keeping the best interest of the team in mind and making sure both quarterbacks continue to improve is key.

“This quarterback competition is a great thing for Penn State fans,” he wrote.